The Loose Tooth
by TheIncredibleDancingBetty
Summary: Raph gets a loose tooth. How would this be handled by a family of rambunctious 6 year old turtles? Anon reviews welcome. chibi ONESHOT


I don't own the TMNT

A/N: I have three other stories to work on...I probably shouldn't be doing this one, especially since I haven't been writing for over a week due to an accident involving my computer and a bowl of fruit loops, but this wouldn't get out of my head! I hope that my regular readers will forgive me! I had another one that was pesturing me to no end, another Leo chapter for my Splinter Single Father series, but I managed to beat that one into submission. Temporarily.

In this story the turtles are around the age of 6. I know that they'll sound awful articulate, but to be honest the only six year old I've had so far is my daughter, and though she just turned seven she's at a 3rd grade level, so you can blame her early expanded vocabulary. Hope y'all enjoy!

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Raph woke up that morning with an astonishing proclamation.

"My tooth is loose!" He said in an surprised voice, as though he didn't even believe it himself. In truth, he didn't even know what it meant.

This immediately caught everyone's attention.

Mikey ran over to him, giddy with excitement. "Really? WOW! Does it hurt? Can I touch it? SO COOL!"

He preened at the attention gushed at him by his younger brother. Proudly Raph opened his mouth and pointed his finger at the middle tooth on his upper jaw. "See?" He muffled with his mouth wide open. With a squeal his orange banded brother poked it slightly. Sure enough, it wriggled easily and distinctly within the gum. Delighted at it, he jabbed again, this time a bit harder.

"OW!" Raph yelped and clamped his mouth down so suddenly that he nipped the tips of his brother's fingers.

Nonplussed, Mikey scampered over to his father. "Splinter! How come it's loose? Is he going to die?"

Flicking an ear, Splinter gave his youngest a speculative look. Had he ever really told them about loose teeth before? He shook his head. He didn't really want to tell them anything, right now. He was getting over a cold and his sinuses were causing him a big headache, but he knew he couldn't just let this lie. With a sigh, he massaged the area between his eyes as he answered. "No, Michelangelo. Raphael will be fine. More than fine, in fact." By now every young face in the room was turned to their father. He grimaced to himself. So much for a quiet morning. Things were never quiet when something new happened with his sons. "This is a normal part of childhood. Your baby teeth fall out to make room for adult teeth."

Raph's eyes widened as a smile slowly spread on his face. "You mean that I'm almost a grown up! WOW!"

Mike giggled and hopped up and down, the bowl of cereal temporarily forgotten. "So cool!" The adoration was plain on his face. He stood at attention and clicked his heels together in a clumsy attempt at the military position of attention. "Mister Raphael!"

Don cocked his head slightly at the situation and turned towards his father. Splinter sighed as his son in purple asked him more pointed questions about it, trying to understand it further than his brothers deemed necessary. Normally he encouraged questions, but with his headache he really just wanted to lie down. But he still answered them as best as he could, not entirely hearing what the other turtles started discussing.

At the other side of the table, Leo frowned. To him this all felt very wrong. "But I thought I was the oldest, so it should happen to me first..." He mumbled to himself.

Unfortunately for him, Raph overheard. Puffing out his chest, grinning in a way that made the loose tooth highly visible, he preened. "Don't worry, Leo. I'm sure it feels fine to know that you still have a mouth full of _baby_ teeth, without _any _grown up teeth coming in yet. Just because you're the oldest, doesn't mean you're the biggest!" He flexed his arms. "I think I feel grown up muscles coming in, too!"

Leo scowled deeply at the remark, but couldn't open his mouth fast enough to keep Mikey from quipping in. "Wow! I never thought of that before! Leo, if he's bigger does that mean that he's better, too?"

"Of _course_ it does!" Raph sneered, posing in a way that he'd seen muscle builders do on magazines. A very grown up way to stand, he was sure.

Splinter's ears flicked in irritation. Part of him just wanted to let sleeping dogs lie, but that was not like him. Thwacking his tail on the floor he caught their attention. "My sons! Stop this bickering at once and eat your meal!" In reality, at that point Splinter was just happy to have an excuse to have a break in Don's questioning. He was wanting to know things that he didn't know. "The order in which you will lose your teeth does not make any one of you better or worse." Nursing a headache that was already beginning to blossom, he tried to settle down to drink his tea but spied Don looking at him expectantly, opening his mouth for another question. Holding up his hand to silence him, he sighed. "Come with me, Donatello. I believe that I have a small dentistry textbook somewhere. Perhaps you can look in there to find out some more." _And leave me alone for a moment__, _he thought to himself.

As soon as he was out of the room Leo scowled at him. "Cut it out, Raph! You didn't even know about baby teeth a little bit ago!"

Raph polished his knuckles on his chest, not even bothering to meet Leo's eyes as he grinned. "But I do now! And I'm going to be the first to lose one!" As he wriggled it with his hand he felt the other front tooth and gasped. "Even this one is wriggling a little bit!" His grin widened. He had no clue how awesome it would feel to not only be first in something, but to be before Leo! The fact that Leo was plainly getting jealous just made everything sweeter.

There was no deflating Raph's bubble for the next few hours. If anything it only got larger, and he was always smiling, partly to show off the loose tooth which he constantly wriggled with his tongue. Leo could hardly stand it, each time he looked at his brothers happy face, he saw that little white tooth winking at him back and forth at him, reminding him of his own inadequacies.

By lunch, Splinter's sinus headache had progressed to the point that he finally gave up the fight. As he set the bowls of noodles before them, he spoke very sternly. "I am going to lay down. You are NOT to make a mess. Is that clear?" They nodded in unison. "You are NOT to make noise. Do you understand?" Again they nodded. Planting both hands on the tabletop, he assessed each of them with his eyes. "If I have to come out here, because you are causing trouble...you. Will. Regret. It." Their eyes widened at his tone and they nodded solemnly. He met their eyes once more, really trying to tell them that he meant business. Then he slowly walked to his room to meet the bed that he had been waiting to become reaquainted with the entire day. With any luck, his sons would behave and stop this ridiculous tooth thing.

As soon as the door closed, Raph began playing with the tooth in an extravagant way with his finger, his entire face beaming as his eyes were glued to Leo's. Leo, who had been silently taking the little jabs all day, glowered even further, frustrated to the point of tears. It wasn't fair!

Don, who had been looking at the dental textbook all day, looked at him with interest. He still didn't understand most of what was in the book, but it was interesting to see the pictures of the tooth anatomy, see the different labelled parts, and the charts. In any case it made him feel smart. Trying to put on a scholarly face, he nodded towards Raph. "Why don't you just take it out?"

Raph jerked slightly at the mention of it, his eyes growing wide. Despite all his bluff, the very thought of ripping something out of his head, something that was a part of him, seemed so...scary. Nervous, noticing that his other two brothers were staring at him questioningly, he tried his best to look confident. "I, uh, I don't think it's really ready yet..."

Scratching his chin, Don looked at another page where different type of dental instruments were displayed. Most of them either looked very wicked, or looked like what he thought normal hardware tools looked like. In fact, now that he thought of it, he was very sure that he had some that looked very similar to the ones on the page. The thought blossomed within him that, maybe, he would be able perform his first surgery! Well, technically removing a tooth wasn't really a surgery, but it was close enough, right? It could be counted as an invasive procedure, at least. He tried to rein in the excitement starting to bubble within him as he gave Raph a sidelong glance. "Um, you probably should have it pulled out, Raph. If it stays in there, it could, uh, become, um, infected. Yeah!" In truth he had no idea if that was true or not, but he knew that it would come out eventually, so what was the harm in stretching the truth?

Eyeridges furrowed, Raph looked concerned. More than concerned, scared! "Is that bad?"

Seeing that the fish was nibbling the bait, Don nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yes! You could even die from it, if it goes on long enough!" He was sure that was true about infection, so it wasn't a complete lie. Trying not to grin like an idiot and potentially give himself and his true motives away, he flipped some more pages until he happened across a picture of a person's grossly crooked teeth. Perfect! He flopped the book on the table so that Raph and the others could see the picture. There was a chorus of _eeews_ as they looked at the ugly set of jaws. Reading the part below the picture he said; "One common cause of teeth growing out of place is the decidious, or baby teeth, not falling out forcing the permanent, or adult tooth to grow around it."

Mouth hanging open, Mike looked at Raph with an expression of excited sympathy. "Dude, you have to make that thing come out!" Then he stopped to consider. "Then again, you could really look like a monster if that happened, which would be cool, maybe it should stay in..."

Raph's skin had paled slightly and his stomach twisted to the point that he was no longer in the mood to eat the rest of his noodles. He stared off into space, not even sure what to say. Knowing that the fish had, indeed, taken the bait, Don leaned forward and jerked the line a bit. "I can take it out if you want..." He said, trying to sound like what he imagined a sympathetic doctor might.

His head snapped over to his brother's, his eyes wide. "Do you think I need to?"

Looking as serious as a six year old could look about something he wasn't entirely sure about, Don nodded solemnly. "Yes. Definitely."

Leo leaned in, his face stricken. "But Donnie, I'm older! I should've had a loose tooth first!" Then a thought occurred to him that made him freeze, his eyes going wide with fear. "What if it was supposed to happen, and it didn't? What if my teeth are getting infected like you said, and my grown up teeth are going to be like in that picture!" These thoughts flashed brightly through his head. Surely, _this_ was the reason why he didn't get a loose tooth first, and if it didn't come out, then not only would _Raph_ be first, but something bad would happen to him!

Don blinked. Was that even possible? He wasn't sure, it didn't sound right. But he couldn't shatter the illusion that he'd built up, otherwise Raph might not let him pull it out. After a brief hesitation, he thought that it wouldn't hurt to at least look. Seeing Don reaching for him, Leo opened his mouth for him as his brother's fingers felt each tooth. Each was firmly rooted in place without the slightest sign of budging. Suddenly looking hesitant, Don shook his head. "I don't know, Leo." A loose tooth was a lot different from one that wasn't, in his mind. He had already seen pictures where teeth broke, and he knew if it was loose then it would be less likely to happen. Plus, though he was excited to do his first extraction, though slightly through manipulation, he knew better than to jump in head first. Better to start with the easier case. "I better do Raph's tooth first. It's loose. Maybe you can try to make some of your teeth loose in the meantime so that I can try later?"

Not looking entirely convinced, Leo nodded.

Maybe he was being selfish, he thought. Yes, he was _supposed_ to be first, but he needed to put his family before himself, right? Surely that would be the honorable thing to do. Doing his best to look honorable Leo nodded again. "You're right, Don. We need to take care of Raph first. He needs us." Did that sound self-sacrificing enough? He wasn't sure, maybe he could also say-

"What? What if I don't wanna!" Raph interrupted his thoughts. Backing from the table, he was shaking his head, both hands clapped over his mouth. "I don't want my tooth to come out!" He whimpered through his fingers.

Leo shook his head. He was on a roll and by golly he was going to stick to it. "No, Raph. You heard Don. It _has_ to come out! It's for your own good!"

Don hesitated, sensing that the situation was going out of control.

Mike leapt to his feet, thoroughly excited about the whole situation even if he didn't completely didn't understand the details. "Yeah, Raph!"

Following suit, Leo got to his feet as well. Raph's eyes widened, realizing exactly what they were thinking of doing. Turning on his heel, he bolted. No sooner had his foot left the ground, then his two brothers tore after him. Not knowing what else to do, Don ran into his lab to get the tools he had in mind, the dental textbook under his arm. Things might not be going exactly the way that he thought but somehow the possibilities still excited him.

Raph got a head start, but no one was as fast as his baby brother. Slowly gaining on him as they tore around the Lair, Mike grinned and took a flying leap. Hands clapping on his shoulders, he tackled him to the ground. Leo was on him an instant later. Raph's struggles were hampered by the fact that both hands still remained firmly clapped over his mouth. Grasping his upper arms and chest.

Both working together they pried his arms off as Don arrived. Hopping onto his plastron, straddling him, he lifted the needle nose pliers. Raph's eyes widened and started shaking his head frantically with his jaws locked shut. Scooting forward, Don's knees were holding his cheeks therefor holding his head in place. Then he realized that he couldn't do anything with Raph's jaws locked tight, and he had no clue how to open them.

It was then that they were interrupted by Splinter's door snapping open.

Immediately all four turtles hopped up onto their feet, standing at a position of attention, feeling Splinter's anger from where they were standing.

He was furious. Anger was beating off him in waves, the pain of his sinus headache not at all subsided. The interruption only made it worse. Seeing his sons standing there expectantly, looking as guilty as sin, was not what he wanted to see. The fact that Raphael had both hands covering his mouth did not bode well.

"What is going on here!" He snapped.

Wrong question. All four turtles began babbling, each giving their own explanations.

"I never had a chance to do this to Raph before!"

"I was only trying to help, honest!"

"THEY wanted to pull out my tooth!"

"I was only trying to take care of him!"

"I have the proper tools, I'm sure!"

"His mouth's going to look like a shark if we don't do it!"

"He had pliers!"

"I'm sure I can handle it!"

"You guys STINK!"

"It wasn't my idea!"

He really didn't want to deal with this. His anger was ebbing, replaced by frustration that his head was about to explode and all he wanted to do was to lie down. Though it was difficult, he could guess the source of the argument.

Raph's mouth was open while he was yelling at one of his brothers. Reaching down, Splinter Grabbed the tooth and, before Raph could understand what was happening, gave a sharp yank. Once again, he clapped his hands over his mouth and looked at Splinter with wide eyes.

Until he felt something different in his mouth.

Lowering his hands in wonder, he opened his mouth and thrust his tongue through the slightly bloody hole where his tooth once was, crossing his eyes in an attempt to see it. The other brothers stared at him in astonishment.

Turning to Donatello, Splinter yanked the dentistry textbook out of his hands. Perhaps knowledge was not always a good thing. Especially if unsupervised. Don was about to loudly protest, but stopped when he saw the look on Splinter's face.

Splinter held out his hand.

Trying his best to look chagrined, Don placed the pliers in his palm.

Grasping the pliers in his fist, he pointed them to each of his sons. "If I catch either of you doing anything like this again, I will use it on you." Their eyes widened and Splinter glowered further. "You have my word of honor on that." He snapped. Immediately four sets of little hands covered their mouths.

Turning, Splinter slowly trudged back to his room. After all, his head was still pounding and his bed was still beckoning. But he couldn't help but shake his head.

All this over a loose tooth.

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A/N: This is actually my first chibi story that centers on the turtles. Of course I have the Day in the Life of a Single Father series, but of course those are all in Splinter's POV and concentrate on him. I'll admit that I finished writing this today because I was disturbed by something sleepingseeker wrote so you can thank her LOL I'm also not going to college today because I feel horribly sick. Might have had a role on the mood I gave Splinter in this one. PLEASE let me know what you guys think! I ADORE reviews!

Also, if you're interested I do have a dark Donatello fic called Light Purple Dark and a comedy called The Hangover: The TMNT addition. Oh, how I love readers!

ATTENTION: Don't forget that the TMNT Fanfic Competition is here! Time to think of any stories you might like to nominate! PM me if you have any further questions, I would be happy to explain anything. The Stealthy Stories (the hosting site) link is on my profile. All the rules are there, be sure to read them before posting your nominations, as we get A LOT and it would be easier if we didn't have to weed through the incorrect ones. Be sure to put 'TMNT COMP' as the subject of the emails.


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